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CBSE · Class 11 · Social Science

Distribution of Oceans and Continents

Standard difficulty · 20 questions · 40 marks · Time: 37 minutes

Name: Date: Score: ____ / 40

Write full answers in Sections B and C. Answers are on the last page — try every question first!

Section A — Choose the correct answer8 × 1 = 8 marks
1.
Alfred Wegener put forward the continental drift theory in:
  1. 1961
  2. 1967
  3. 1596
  4. 1912
2.
What is the evidence from rocks of the same age for continental drift?
  1. 2,000-million-year-old rocks of Brazil match West Africa
  2. the same animals live in India, Madagascar and Africa
  3. a reptile found only in South Africa and Brazil
  4. Ghana’s gold came from veins in Brazil
3.
Alfred Wegener is known for:
  1. a computer fit of the Atlantic margins
  2. first suggested the continents were once joined
  3. the continental drift theory
  4. the concept of plate tectonics
4.
What happens at divergent boundaries?
  1. plates pull apart and new crust forms
  2. continents float on the ocean water
  3. plates slide past each other; crust is neither made nor destroyed
  4. the ocean floor never moves
5.
Where is the Arabian plate?
  1. between Central America and the Pacific plate
  2. between the Asiatic and Pacific plates
  3. mostly the Arabian landmass
  4. between South America and the Pacific plate
6.
Which of these is one of the seven major plates?
  1. the Arabian plate
  2. the Philippine plate
  3. the North American plate
  4. the Nazca plate
7.
Suppose a plate moves 6 cm a year. How many km does it move in 30 million years? (1 km = 100,000 cm)
  1. 18,000 km
  2. 180 km
  3. 1,800 km
  4. 1,810 km
8.
Bullard’s computer fit was presented in 1964; the plate tectonics concept appeared in 1967. How many years apart were these?
  1. 8 years
  2. 13 years
  3. 4 years
  4. 3 years
Section B — Short answer8 × 2 = 16 marks
9.
What forces did Wegener suggest caused continental drift?
10.
How does each support continental drift? (a) placer deposits (b) Mesosaurus fossils
11.
What is each known for? (a) Arthur Holmes (b) Harry Hess
12.
Explain each term: (a) spreading site (b) subduction zone
13.
Where is each minor plate? (a) the Caroline plate (b) the Cocos plate
14.
Which came first, and by how many years? (a) the plate tectonics concept appeared (1967) (b) Wegener put forward continental drift (1912)
15.
Suppose an ocean opened to 1,800 km wide, spreading at 4 cm a year. How many million years did that take? (1 km = 100,000 cm)
16.
Which came first, and by how many million years? (a) the Himalayas began to rise (about 40 million years ago) (b) the Tethys Sea still separated India from Asia (about 225 million years ago)
Section C — Longer answers4 × 4 = 16 marks
17.
Explain the evidence that supports continental drift.
18.
Match each with its idea: (a) McKenzie, Parker and Morgan (b) Bullard (c) Harry Hess. Choose from: a computer fit of the Atlantic margins; sea floor spreading; the concept of plate tectonics.
19.
(a) Put these in order, earliest first: the Deccan Traps began to form (about 60 million years ago); the Himalayas began to rise (about 40 million years ago); India lay as far south as 50° S (about 140 million years ago). (b) How many million years from the first to the last? (c) What did the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates produce?
20.
Suppose two plates move apart at 15 cm a year. (a) How many km apart do they move in 17 million years? (b) The two Mesosaurus localities are 4,800 km apart: how many million years would it take to open that gap at this rate? (c) What kind of plate boundary forms where plates move apart?
AmbifulWorksheets
Practice that never repeats
CBSE · Class 11 · Social Science

Answer key

Distribution of Oceans and Continents · AW-11SS-GOC-2026-V1 · For parents — fold back or tear off before handing the sheet to your child.

QAnswerWorking
1(d) 1912—
2(a) 2,000-million-year-old rocks of Brazil match West Africa—
3(c) the continental drift theory—
4(a) plates pull apart and new crust forms—
5(c) mostly the Arabian landmass—
6(c) the North American plate—
7(c) 1,800 km6 × 30,000,000 ÷ 100,000
8(d) 3 years1967 − 1964 = 3
9The pole-fleeing force (from the earth’s rotation) and the tidal force (from the moon and the sun).—
10(a) Ghana’s gold came from veins in Brazil (b) a reptile found only in South Africa and Brazil—
11(a) convection currents in the mantle (b) sea floor spreading—
12(a) where plates move away from each other (b) where one plate sinks under another—
13(a) between the Philippine and Indian plates, north of New Guinea (b) between Central America and the Pacific plate—
14Wegener put forward continental drift, by 55 years1967 − 1912
1545 million years1,800 km ÷ 40 km per million years
16The Tethys Sea still separated India from Asia, by 185 million years225 − 40
17The jig-saw fit of the Atlantic coasts, rocks of the same age across oceans, matching tillite, placer gold in Ghana from Brazil, and fossils such as Mesosaurus found far apart.—
18(a) the concept of plate tectonics (b) a computer fit of the Atlantic margins (c) sea floor spreading—
19(a) India lay as far south as 50° S; the Deccan Traps began to form; the Himalayas began to rise (b) 100 million years (c) Answers will vary; see the chapter.140 − 40
20(a) 2,550 km (b) 32 million years (c) a divergent boundary (a spreading site), such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge15 cm × 1 million = 150 km per million years